The Last Holdout
by mediahybrid117
Summary: The cast of L4D2 find themselves across the country after hearing rumor that Arizona has a safe zone for those who have been evacuated. However, while in Chandler, Arizona, they find a young couple who say otherwise. Are they to be trusted? Blood! Always blood. So... just like everything else I've written, it's rated the same. *bow* Enjoy
1. Chapter 1

"Hey…" Ellis started, "Anyone else find it weird that we passed three dead Tanks and six dead Witches?" he asked, "And _we_ didn't kill them?" he looked around as he and his teammates walked around and over dead infected. They'd been trudging though Chandler, Arizona for two and a half days and didn't have a break until they reached Warner and walked up Hartford.

"He has a point." Rochelle stopped nudged a dead Hunter with her foot. The side of his head was missing.

"That could mean two things; either something bigger and more aggressive than a Tank and we're screwed, or there's people around here that can help us." Nick said and pressed his hand to his side.

"Anyone else hear a car?" Coach asked.

When they all looked forward, they found a small, white, two-door sedan missing the trunk and back window, crossing the intersection at the blinking yellow lights.

"Follow that Pontiac!" Ellis shouted and ran headlong at the direction the car was going in.

"Ellis! Don't run too far!" Rochelle shouted and pulled Nick along over her shoulder. Coach had run after Ellis to make sure nothing attacked him. By the time they caught up with them, Ellis and Coach were winded, resting their hands on their knees and catching their breath. They stood on each side of the car.

Nick leaned on the short wall that the car parked next to, "Dumbshit…" he panted, practically clawing his injured side, "Don't ever run off like that again." He had been attacked by a Hunter just after the team had used their last health pack. He'd been walking around without bandages since.

"Well, I didn't wanna lose the car." Ellis looked up and Nick, then he felt bad, "I wanted to get you help." He said apologetically. "I'm sorry, man." He looked away. Then he looked at the apartment that the car was parked next to. The windows were either barred or boarded up, the screen door sat partially open and the porch light stayed on. He looked back down at the ground and found a small trail of blood, "Someone's hurt…" he said. He straightened up, strapped his gun to his back, and knocked on the front door. He looked at Nick and then back at the door nervously, not knowing who could be on the inside. The Pontiac Sunfire next to him gave him some sort of reassurance that the driver probably wasn't aggressive, but then again, the blood repainting the vehicle told him otherwise. There were two other vehicles next to it; a Ford Ranger, and an old Ford F-250. They appeared to be in working condition considering how neatly they were parked along the small wall Nick was leaning against. He sighed and looked at the large window next to him that had bars running up it, appearing that the bars had been removed from the other apartments. Inside the window, was a small orange cat with golden eyes and a blue collar. "Hey, kitty-kitty." He cooed and tapped the window gently with his fingers, "You got an owner in there?"

The cat looked curious, and completely at ease. She jumped down and ran off after her ear twitched.

"Damn it, Ellis, you scared the cat." Coach said.

"No, it heard something." He said, "Someone's gotta be in there." Hope rose in his voice.

There was a few clicks behind the door before it was opened, revealing an eighteen-year-old girl with a combat shotgun aimed for Ellis' face.

He held his hands up in response, "We don't mean no harm." He took a small step back, "Our buddy's hurt and really needs help." He pointed at Nick with his thumb.

She took a moment to observe the team. She looked at Nick's wound then back up at Ellis. She lowered her shotgun and motioned inside, "You can come in, but I can't help him; I'm out of bandages." She said in a hardened tone. "There's a couple beds in the back room, you can put him on one of those."

Rochelle and Coach ushered him inside. Ellis stepped in after them, closing both doors behind him.

The girl stepped around him and locked the screen door, "I don't know why that's open." She said.

"It was open when we got here." Ellis said.

She paused, "Oh, he must've left it open…" she said to herself, showing concern.

"Um, ma'am, were you driving the Pontiac?"

"No, I wasn't." she said, looking at the wall as though she tried looking into the room next to them. She shook her head, "My boyfriend's hurt. He went out to get supplies but was attacked by a Witch."

Ellis nodded, "How bad is he?"

"Bad." She said, "I had to use the last of our supplies. He's asleep right now. But at some point I need to collect more supplies to change his bandages."

"I'll run'n do it." He offered, "Nick needs help too, so might as well."

"Take someone with you." She said, "Obviously this area's getting infested again."

"Sorry, miss, I don't know your name." Ellis rubbed the back of his head.

"Tacome." She said.

"Oh, well I'm Ellis." He shook her hand. "The girl with us is Rochelle, the guy in the white suit is Nick, and the bigger guy is Coach."

"That's really his name?" She asked unsure.

"He never gave us his real name; he just told us to call him that."

"I see." Tacome nodded, "Well, you see a guy that's not one of yours, he's mine. That's Vincent."

"Vincent's a cool name." Ellis smiled.

"Ellis." Coach walked in, "Nick's not doing too good, we need to find supplies." He said.

Tacome dug in her pockets, "Oh, Vincent has August's key…" she pulled out a key ring, "This is July's, that's the small truck. Take it and fill up the back seat as much as you can with supplies." She handed the keys to Ellis. "Be careful, that Witch's still out there somewhere. Vincent couldn't kill her."

In the back bedroom, Rochelle sat next to Nick, who laid on his side and fought to stay awake. She held onto his hand while he squeezed it with each wave of pain that rolled over. He then wished that the pain pills had lasted longer.

"You're gonna be okay." Rochelle finally said soothingly.

"If only Overalls didn't run…" Nick groaned.

"He was only trying to get you help. He really does care about you." She said, wincing at how hard he was squeezing her hand.

He looked up at her exhaustedly, "Where'd Coach go? And Ellis?" he asked.

"I don't know. Coach went to talk to Ellis and that girl, I think I overheard them talk about going to get more supplies." She said, her stomach growled loudly.

He let out a chuckle and pat her stomach, "You should… go ask about some food… you need it." He said, eyes closing.

"No, Nick! Stay with me."

"Vincent, what are you doing out of bed?" Tacome's voice exclaimed down the hall.

"I got hungry." A voice groaned.

"Well, you could've sent Olive, or Buka." She said.

"They're not in there." He said.

Rochelle looked down at the small black cat that laid against Nick, "Are you Olive?"

The cat stood up and meowed loudly, walking to her for attention.

"Olive!" Tacome called.

The cat jumped down and ran to her. Rochelle stood and followed, "I'll be right back, okay Nick?" she turned to look at him and found him unconscious. She sighed and met Tacome and Vincent in the hallway. "Uh-" she paused and studied Vincent for a moment. He was a little taller than Tacome, his hair was almost as long as hers, and he was pale for someone she assumed was Native. "Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Everything's fine." Tacome said, "Please, make yourself at home." She turned back to Vincent, "You need to go back to bed." She ushered him back to the bedroom he was standing in front of.

Rochelle followed, "Anything I can do to help?" she asked.

Tacome shook her head and thought for a moment, "Um, get me a bowl of Ramen or Spaghetti-O's. They're in the pantry and there's a toaster oven in the corner by the stove and the sink."

"Okay." She turned and left.

"Feel free to make some for yourself and Nick too." She called.

"Hospitable to complete strangers, are you?" Vincent asked her with a smirk.

She brushed his hair back, "Their teammate was hurt, I couldn't leave them out there. Besides, they followed you home."

"Followed me home?" he asked in confusion, "How?"

"They saw you driving August." She said, "Two of them took July and went to Walgreen's."

Vincent nodded and groaned. "What's wrong with the other guy?"

"I don't know. But they ran out of supplies too, so I guess he's been bleeding out for a while." She said.

"That sucks."

Rochelle shortly returned with a bowl, "Here you go, Sweetie." She said. "So you got the power working in here?"

"Yeah." Tacome took the bowl and started giving spoonfuls to Vincent. "And the hot water. So you guys can get a shower if you want."

Rochelle cheered on the inside, but remained silent for the sake of the silence in the rest of the house. "I'm going to go check on Nick." She said and walked off.

Shortly after, Ellis and Coach returned shortly with armfuls of medical supplies. Vincent had fallen back asleep and Tacome and Rochelle were watching Nick and chatting. "So, Tacome," Ellis walked in and handed Rochelle a first-aid kit, "You the one that killed all the infected out there?"

"Vincent and I did." She said, "Yeah." She watched Rochelle start cleaning Nick's wound.

Ellis nodded. "That's good. Nick thought there might've been somethin' out there worse than a Tank." He chuckled.

"Oh…" Tacome paused, "Well, he's right too."

He stopped laughing, "Wait, what?"

"Three times bigger than a Tank." She said, she told Rochelle how she met Vincent and even told her why they were alone. She didn't say anything about the special infected that roamed the area. "Twice the power, twice the temper. They have the armor of a Charger's arm, all over its body. The only soft spots it has are on its chest and stomach. They're really mean." She said.

Ellis and Rochelle looked at her in shock.

"Luckily we've only seen one." She said folding her arms.

Ellis sighed in relief.

"But he's still alive." She finished. Flashes of this encounter ran through her mind. The monstrous beast towering over her and Vincent while it growled deeply.

Rochelle's eyes widened.

"We called it a Bulldozer." She said.

"Gives one hell of a donkey kick, too." Vincent stood in the doorway and crossed his arms.

"Vincent!" Tacome stood up.

"Relax, I'll be fine." He waved, "Did you tell them about Shifters and Twisters?"

"No- I…" she looked at him.

"Shifters and Twisters?" Rochelle looked back up, she was beginning to put on bandages.

"Oh, such a pain, you haven't bumped into one?" Vincent asked. "Shifters are harder to sort out, but let me ask you: have you seen a random zombie just standing perfectly still and watching you?"

Ellis thought for a moment, "Hey, yeah."

"Did you guys trigger an alarm and attract a horde?" he asked.

"Coach threw a pipe bomb." Rochelle said.

"Was that zombie gone when you looked for him again?"

They nodded.

"That was a Shifter." Vincent said, "Very smart infected. They can use a gun."

Tacome felt her side, "I hate Shifters…"

"What do they do exactly?" Coach stood by Vincent, he'd been quiet and listened to them talk about the infected that they had yet to encounter.

"They study a victim for a while and when they have the behavior memorized, they change their shape to look like the one they were studying. Then they act like they're in danger and lure a teammate to help. Say you hadn't seen Nick in a while, and you hear him calling for help. You go to help him, and when he's on his feet, BAM! he shot you. After he walks away when you crumple to the ground, another Nick comes to see if you're okay, the _real_ Nick." Tacome explained, having dealt with a Shifter before.

"Why Nick?" Rochelle asked.

"He's unconscious, he can't hear us." She said without caring. Her knack for keeping an injured's name out of a scenario like such went out the window when the infection hit.

Vincent rubbed his shoulder, "Bastard."

They others were silent for a moment.

"On the lighter side, there's Twisters." Tacome said.

"What the fuck are Twisters?" Rochelle looked up from Nick and at Tacome.

"They throw shit." She said.

"It's really annoying." Vincent said. "They've got long arms and they'll escape in vents."

"Crazy, creepy little shits. They make Jockeys innocent."

"That's not possible- There's nothing out there more irritating than a Jockey." Rochelle chuckled.

Tacome and Vincent rose an eyebrow, "Wanna bet?" Vincent sighed and turned around, "Who's hungry?" he asked.

Coach and Ellis rose their hands.

"I already ate." Rochelle said and tied off Nick's bandages.

Something went off in Tacome's pocket, an electronic chime. The same thing happened with Vincent's pocket. As though they'd been trained, they dropped everything and went to the front and back doors. They locked the dead bolts and made sure everything was properly barricaded.

"The fuck was that?" Ellis asked.

Tacome pulled out a cell phone and dismissed the alarm. "Cell phones."

"You guys have cell phones?"

"Yeah." Vincent nodded.

"Working phones?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

Tacome reached into the closet and pulled out a shoebox, "Phone cards. There's seven years worth in here."

Coach and Ellis peered into the box. "Damn." Ellis sniffed, "Vincent, what're you cooking in there?"

"Chorizo." He said simply.

Tacome smiled and put the box away as Ellis and Coach went in to see. She looked at Rochelle, who'd been quiet. "You okay?"

She nodded, "Just tired and worried about Nick."

Tacome knelt by her, "I bet." She said. "I get worried when my boyfriend gets hurt." She said.


	2. Chapter 2

"He's not my boyfriend."

Tacome looked at her, then back at Nick. "You sure act like he is." She straightened up, "I used to get it all the time with Vincent before we were dating. If you're not dating, that's fine. But someday you'll realize that everyone was right." She smiled. She looked over at the bowl Rochelle was holding earlier. "You haven't eaten?" she asked.

"I was." She said. "I wasn't hungry all of a sudden."

"Eat." She pat her shoulder, "He'd want you to, I'm sure." She said.

Rochelle was silent. She took the bowl and began eating.

"We'll get some clothes for you guys later too. From the looks of it, you guys need it." Tacome stood up.

Rochelle looked at Tacome briefly and noticed that her clothes were clean. They actually seemed new. "From where?" she asked.

"The mall. We go every once in a while to restock on some things." She said. "The Wal*Mart was cleaned out a while ago."

"Won't the mall be infested?" she asked, remembering her encounter at the mall when she first met Coach, Nick and Ellis.

"Yeah, but cleaning it out is good stress relief."

"Stress relief from what?"

"Zombies." She said simply. She stretched, "Killing what's stressing you out feels better, doesn't it?"

Rochelle shrugged, "Sure."

"It's settled then, we'll go tomorrow." She said and walked out of the room before Rochelle could protest.

Rochelle sighed and looked down at the half-eaten bowl of food in front of her. She looked back at Nick, one arm tucked under him, the other draped over the edge of the bed. His age seemed greater than what it really was with the lack of sleep he'd been getting lately and from getting worn out so quickly. He'd grown pale from his recent injury and because they hadn't gotten it treated. She wasn't going to be surprised if he'd get sick because the wound got infected. But what if _he_ got infected. She wouldn't be able to bring herself to shoot him. Neither would Ellis or Coach, they cared a lot about Nick, despite his biting sarcasm and his snarky remarks. She shook her head and stood up. She'd finished the bowl out of self-hypnosis and didn't realize she'd been eating this whole time. She took another look back down at Nick and thought for a moment that maybe Tacome was right. She cared enough about Nick that they might as well be a couple. She sighed and turned to leave the room. She stepped into the kitchen where Vincent had been serving everyone the chorizo for dinner and set the bowl on the counter. "Thank you, Tacome." She said.

"Of course." Tacome smiled.

"Has the other guy eaten?" Vincent asked, holding an extra bowl.

"No, not yet. He hasn't woken up." Rochelle said and rinsed out the bowl, feeling weird if she'd left the bowl in the empty sinks and cleared counters.

"Oh, don't worry about it." Tacome said, "I'll do the dishes later."

"It's my turn." Vincent added.

"You did them last night." Tacome protested.

"No, you did." He said.

"You got attacked by Sandra, you shouldn't even be out of bed." She said. "I'll do the dishes."

He opened his mouth to speak, but she had won the debate. He sighed, "Okay, you win." he handed Rochelle the bowl, "Wake up Monkey Suit and make him eat. He needs to eat if he wants to recover." He started for his and Tacome's bedroom.

"I love you, Vincent." She said.

"I love you too." He called back and gently closed the door, making sure it wasn't latched so the cats could come and go as they pleased.

Ellis looked at Tacome, "Who's Sandra?"

"She's the Witch we can't get rid of. She attacked him earlier today. She's the most aggressive Witch we've ever come across."

"How is she the most aggressive?" Coach asked.

"She'll even attack other zombies." She said grimly. "I've seen her take off a Hunter's head before." She said, "Not an easy Witch to deal with."

They all look at her with great fascination, "How do you know she's around?"

"She never cries. She just growls. You can be across Ray and she'll want to attack you." Tacome said. "If you can kill her, we'll have to repay you." She said, "We hate that Witch."

"Why name her?" Ellis asked.

"Because we knew her before the apocalypse. She was a bitch even then." Tacome said. She looked at Rochelle. "You should try and get Nick to eat." She said.

"Right." Rochelle turned around.

"Hey, girl, how're the sleeping arrangements gonna go?" Coach asked.

Rochelle knelt by Nick and gently shook his shoulder, "Nick?" she called gently, "Nick, come on. You gotta eat something." She said softly.

His eyebrows pulled together slightly. He took a deep breath and barely opened his eyes. "What is that?" he asked, eyed the bowl sleepily.

"Chorizo. Vincent made it." Rochelle said.

"Who?"

"The girl's boyfriend." She said, "Come on, "You need to eat." She said.

Nick put one hand firmly on the bed beneath him and tried forcing himself up, managing barely and taking the bowl from Rochelle.

"Careful, man, it's a little spicy." Ellis said and walked in, leaning on the doorframe.

"Thanks for the heads-up." Nick said and took a bite of the food, "Damn…" he said, his mouth partially full, "That's good." He took another bite, finally realizing the burning pain in his stomach that howled for food.

"Want some, Ro?" Ellis offered.

"I already ate." She said.

"Try some, though." Nick held up a bite of the chorizo to her.

She looked at him, somewhat surprised that he was offering a bite of his food to her. She leaned forward and took the bite, feeling the slight, spicy kick that the food had, "Wow." She said, "That is good."

Tacome walked in the doorway and squeezed her way passed Ellis, "Okay, Rochelle, you're gonna sleep in here in this bed." She pointed at the bed that sat opposed to Nick across the room. She looked at Nick, "Oh, you're up." She said.

He nodded, "And?" his tone seemed bitter..

Tacome put up her hands defensively, "Oh, sorry we were worried about you." She sighed, "Anyway, Coach and Ellis are gonna crash on the couches in the living room. If something breaks in; we'll know." She said. "Good night everyone." She waved and walked off to her room.

Rochelle watched her leave and watched the orange cat trot after her. She looked back at Nick, "Really?

"What's with the attitude, man? She's trying to help us." Ellis said.

Nick didn't realize he snapped, "I didn't mean it like that. I'm just tired, sore…"

"Cranky." Ellis added.

Rochelle hid a snicker, "They are trying to help you." She said, "Just…"

Nick sighed, "I know, I know." He said, "Attitude."

"Now." Rochelle stood up, "She said that the hot water works, so I'm getting myself a damn shower." She said and walked away to the bathroom.

Ellis sighed and sat down on the bed Rochelle was supposed to take, relaxing completely against the wall. "Well thank God, right?" he said.

"Yeah. No doubt." Nick said and took another bite of his dinner, "And here I thought we were gonna spend the night in another shitty gas station or abandoned house with no food or water." He said, "And instead, we're in a fortified apartment with comfortable beds-"

"And couches," Ellis added.

"And couches, warm food and water, and…" he took a moment to realize what had actually happened.

"People." Coach said and walked in the room, sitting on the other end of the bed.

"People who're actually helping us." Ellis said.

"People proving themselves useful."

"Man, I don't know how long they been out here, but they're doing pretty damn good for themselves." Coach said.

"Especially with the new crazy shit out here." Ellis said.

"Wait, new zombies? How come we haven't seen them?" Nick asked.

"Oh, that's right, you were unconscious for that part." Ellis said, "Dude, there's things out there that make Jockey's seem innocent."

"Men, screw the Twisters, what about the Bulldozer?" Coach argued.

"Twisters and Bulldozers?" Nick asked. "What the hell are those?" he asked.

Tacome sat down on the queen-sized bed. She'd left the door open so Buka could get her if she needed to. She sighed and took off her boots.

"Who's taking the shower?" Vincent mumbled behind her.

"I dunno. What's it matter? They all need one." She said and arched backwards to pop her back. "At least someone's taking one." She said.

"Just asking." He said.

She sighed, "Sorry. How're you feeling?" she asked.

He hummed, "My stomach stings." He said. "Other than that I guess I feel alright."

She looked back at him. She crawled in next to him and carefully wrapped her arm behind him.

"The irritating thing about Sandra; you never hear her coming." He said.

"Even before she turned." Tacome agreed.

The next morning, Tacome dragged herself out of bed and shuffled out into the hallway, seeing Coach and Ellis draped over the couches and snoring away. She nodded, noting that they were having a good night's sleep, despite the fact that Ellis held his rifle across his chest in case something happened. She made her way down the hall and looked into the other bedroom, seeing Rochelle relaxed on 'her' bed with Olive curled up by her ankles. She looked across the room and saw Nick lying on his back and staring at the ceiling. Tacome tilted her head and watched him for a moment. "I'm making some breakfast if you want some." She said, just loud enough for him to hear, but quiet enough to not disturb anyone. She turned and pulled together ingredients for pancakes. She heard shuffling behind her and one of the chairs move. She turned and looked over, "How'd you sleep?" she asked him, mixing the pancake batter with water, adding a touch of cinnamon.

"That's the best sleep I've had in… about two years since this whole thing started." Nick said.

"Oh, yeah, it's been a couple years since it hit the east coast." She said. "It hit here… maybe about three years ago." She said. She poured some batter into the hot frying pan.

"So you two have been here a while." He nodded.

"Yeah." She nodded, "We were just getting out of high school." She said. "It hit the day after graduation." She said.

"You two were barely starting your lives." He said.

"Yeah." She flipped the pancake.

"So, how'd you get the power running?" he asked.

She looked back at him, "There's maybe… about fifty parked cars out there that have their hoods up."

He scoffed, "Seriously?"

"No. We found the power plant and turned our grid on. Like I told Rochelle; we rigged the place."

"So you're stealing power?"

"It's not stealing if no one's ever gonna use it." She said.

He chuckled, "Impressive."

She served him a pancake and two fried eggs, "There you go." She gave him a fork.

He looked down at the plate. "Thanks." He said.

She turned around and started some more pancakes. She cracked a few more eggs and put them on the skillet on the next burner. "So what's your story?" she asked.

"You really wanna know?" he said in between bites.

"Sure. How'd you meet the others?" she asked.

He thought for a moment, relieved that he didn't have to explain what he was doing before the apocalypse. "We were uh… we were trying to get evacuated, but the chopper left without us. We just all ended up on the roof at the same time, for the same reason and ended up the same way." He said.

"That sucks. But at least you weren't alone, right?" she asked.

He chuckled, "That's how I wanted it at first. But then we got separated a couple times on our way to the west coast and I realized that without them, I'm as good as dead." He said. "I didn't have much to call a family before the apocalypse, but Ellis, Coach and Rochelle are the closest things to a family I'm ever going to get." he stared at his plate.

She watched him for a moment. Then she turned and flipped the pancakes, "That's all I can ever ask for." She said, "Mine got evacuated. There wasn't any room for me and Vincent, so we stayed behind and took the challenge. I have no idea how they're doing. But… for all they know, Vincent and I could be dead." She sighed. "Vincent's my family now."

Nick paused, "There's an evac center here?"

She scoffed, "Yeah. In Mesa. It's demolished though. I doubt anyone's picking up from there anymore."

He thought for a moment. This could really be their chance of getting rescued and taken away from this hell they once called home. "But there's a chance." He said. "After I recover, we're getting out of here." He said.

"Did you not hear me?" Tacome said, "The place is in ruins. Trust me, Vincent and I were there." She said irritated, "That Bulldozer trashed the place. There is no escaping."

He glared at her, "If there's a chance of getting me and the others to safety and with other civilized people, we're taking it." He said.

She growled and turned, "Good luck." She said and pilled the food on two large, serving plates. She turned and went to the doorway of the 'guest' bedroom, "Rochelle, breakfast." She called gently. She turned and went to the living room. "Coach, Ellis. Food's ready." Then she turned around, "Vincent." She gently pat his shoulder, "I made breakfast." She said.

Before long, Tacome was serving everyone the pancakes and eggs. She stretched and popped every possible joint she could on the way. "So, Rochelle, you wanna go shopping?" she asked.

Vincent gave her an odd look. Sure, she was going out to get some clothes, but she never called it shopping.

"Uh… you guys shop?" Nick asked unsure.

"Well… it's more like taking clothes from the mall, but we're picking out what we like, don't like, fits, doesn't fit, and stuff we need." Tacome clarified.

Rochelle paused, "Sure. I didn't realize you meant today, but sure." She smiled. "Wait… we're not walking are we?"

"Of course not. Did you see how many cars are in the side yard here?" Tacome asked. "Besides, it'll be easier to kill the zombies with the truck."

"Aw! Sweet! Can I come?" Ellis wore an ear-to-ear grin.

"Uh… I was hoping for it to be a girls' thing." Tacome said.

"Let him go." Vincent said. "I'd prefer it if he went anyway just in case something happened."

Tacome paused. "Okay. As long as Coach stays with you two and keeps an eye on you."

"Why? I don't need to be babysat." Nick said.

"You two were injured." Rochelle said, "It'd be good if you have someone in good condition looking after you guys."

"Exactly." Tacome nodded.

"Oh…" Nick looked away. Then he shrugged, "Fine then."

"Let's go then." Ellis said.

"I'm ready to go." Rochelle said.

"Are you two armed and fully loaded?" Tacome asked.

"Yep." Ellis said.

"Let me reload, and I'll be good." Rochelle said and went to the bedroom she spent the night in.

Tacome smiled and leaned against the counter. "Everyone sleep good?" she asked.

"Best sleep I've had in a while." Coach said.

"I'm not even sore." Ellis said.

"I already told you how I feel." Nick said.

"Well, I'm glad to hear." Tacome said. "And the hot water works in here, so feel free to take a shower whenever you need to."

"I took one after Ro did." Ellis smiled. "I feel a lot better."

Tacome smiled. "Good."

"Okay! I'm ready to go." Rochelle came in and held her assault rifle to her hip.

"Let's go then." Tacome pulled the keys out of her pocket.

"You guys be careful." Vincent called behind them.

"We will!" Tacome called back.


End file.
